


Ethanol

by Unfathomablespace



Category: Raffles - E. W. Hornung
Genre: M/M, poor Bunny
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-05
Updated: 2017-04-05
Packaged: 2018-10-15 03:44:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,322
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10549514
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Unfathomablespace/pseuds/Unfathomablespace
Summary: Bunny is waiting for Raffles to come home and over come with the injustice of it all, turns to the whiskey decanter and his skill in verse.





	

_ Oh,I love you, I love you without reason or regard for my own safety.   _

_ I'd follow you to hell and throw myself into the pit if it meant you'd walk free. _

 

“Bunny _ ” _

 

_ I hear your voice even you aren't there. Soft and mocking and rich, you could talk for hours and I'd listen, rapt. _

 

_ “ _ Now, really Bunny”

 

_ Oh, Raffles, I wish I could prove myself to you. I wish I could as daring or charming or sauve.  I wish I could flirt with you like all those beautiful women. If I only possessed your wit! _

 

A hand gripped Bunny’s shoulder shaking him. The touch seemed far away, softened by whiskey and the delightful numbing haze it brought with it. 

 

“Do wake up, Bunny”

 

It was Raffles. He was home at last! He was peering down at Bunny with a worried air. He leaned down towards his seated friend and smoothed the blonde hair from his forehead with a cool hand. Bunny was warm, having spent the last four hours at Raffles’ fireside.

 

“Raffles! I was waiting here for, for ages”

 

“And I can see you helped yourself to the decanter while you waited”

 

His words were slurred and his mind was foggy. He looked up at Raffles, who was the only thing we could focus on. The irony was not lost on him. 

 

In Raffles’ absence he'd intruded on his legendary hospitality and gotten blind drunk. It was the only thing he could think to do. It was the only way to cope. 

 

The fact that Raffles just breezed in, even if it was his apartment, all amiable after abandoning Bunny stung.

 

“You could have told me! Where were you? Out, out having adventures while I sit at home like a housewife”

 

Raffles grinned, his hand still on Bunny’s forehead. He didn't think he was serious. He thought it was just another tantrum. Bunny looked away, which in his case as good as a glare. Raffles began to catch on. 

 

“Is that what you think housewives do, my dear boy?”, he said straightening. He rolled up his sleeves and regarded the slumped Bunny, who was staring.

 

_ I would say this is the most beautiful I've ever seen you but I'd be lying. You always look like some kind of nymph or demigod; with the sun shining through you like you're it's child or a part of you.  _

 

Bunny tilted his head back, morose. Raffles looked concerned, back didn't move to help him. He seemed frozen in place. Bunny smiled, a drunken loose lipped smile and let out a single syllable laugh. He hadn't ever seen Raffles to halt and consider something, at least not at the same pace as Bunny. 

 

_ You think you are so clever, and the worst thing is - you're right. You outdo the brightest minds of our generation on a weekly basis because you're competent as well, sure footed and agile. With the work ethic of a sport man and the morals of a bleak philosopher.  But you already know all this. I even envy your confidence, confound you.  _

 

He wondered who would merit such care from the cricketer. He never wanted to meet them. The silence stretched on. Bunny felt annoyed at Raffles refusing to answer him, did he not deserve so much as an excuse?

 

_ I feel like crying. I've embarrassed myself and I haven't done a thing, but I am embarrassed. I'm ashamed. He can never love me like I need him to. And even if he could, I wouldn't deserve it.  _

 

_ “ _ Bunny _!” _

 

_ I can't lead him on adventures or snatch diamonds out of the sky like he can. I'm not mysterious or devious in the way he admires. He just feels sorry for me.  _

 

Bunny felt the pain keenly. Too keenly. He had been hit! Bunny opened his eyes and saw Raffles crouched in front of him, with a haunted look. He had slapped him, hard on the cheek. 

 

“Bunny. Why are you saying all this?”

 

“What do you mean, I haven't said a word to you. You haven't answered my question.” 

 

“I didn't get a chance, old boy. You were performing a monologue.”

 

Bunny rolled his neck, mulling this over. He was confused, he'd only been thinking. Waiting for Raffles to grace him with an answer for his hurtful ways. A tear rolled down his cheek. 

 

_ You're always leaving me. What will happen when you are gone for good? _

 

Raffles wiped the tear away. 

 

“I won't leave you,Bunny. I'm sorry I ever did”

 

“What?”

 

“I didn't know it had affected you this deeply”

 

“How did you know I was thinking? I mean to say Raff-”

 

“Bunny you said all that to me. You haven't stopped talking since I opened the door. You were raving, I thought you reciting poetry when I first heard but then -”

 

The air in the room turned frigid cold. Bunny’s heart sank down into his stomach. This is the end, he was caught.

 

“Oh! Oh, Raffles! I'll go. I'll go right now, to Europe. You need never see me again but I beg of you don't sell me. Please don't give me up, you good man”

 

Bunny had leapt up. He was standing on less than sturdy legs, too weak to step forward yet but building up to it. Raffles steadied him and took his hand. He brought it to his mouth and kissed Bunny’s knuckles. 

 

Raffles' eyes had always been beautiful, like clear water but now they were whole universes to him. They maintained contact, fierce burning contact. It was far more intense than the affairs Bunny had seen Raffles embark on before. He thought he was on fire. He must be dreaming, he simply must.

 

“This is cruel”

 

“How so?”

 

His gaze was so tender that Bunny melted. He clung to arms that held him.

 

“You don't love me. You love all those wonderful women you wax on to me about”

 

Raffles laughed, having the manners to look down. He was still smiling. 

 

“Only for a night or two, Bunny. But look at us! I stay with you, I work with you and I share all I have with you”

 

“Yes, but it isn't like that. Is it?”

 

Raffles gripped his elbow and said softly, “It could be. You could move in, sell the flat. Live with me, Bunny”

 

He moved again, embracing Bunny, sliding an arm around his waist and pulling his closer. Bunny was aware that Raffles must have wanted this, must have waited for this just as he had. It was the only explanation, and yet what if this was a trick? Or a faerie come to ruin him?

 

“I don't believe you.” 

 

Raffles kissed him. Bunny was suddenly aware of the whiskey vapour he was poisoning the air with. Raffles tasted sweet with tint of the cloying smell of Sullivan’s. 

 

He was still, paralysed. Raffles was still cold from his outside excursions and it tingled against Bunny’s warmth. He smiled against the corner of Bunny’s mouth, indulgently. He rubbed circles on his back, soothing him like a child. Bunny was pliant in his hands, he would have strolled into Hell’s mouth, or into Scotland Yard, weighted down with Jewels. He was Raffles'.  

 

“Do you believe me now?

 

Bunny hummed, words failing him. Raffles embraced him, holding him tight against his chest. The world felt better than it had any right to, for the both of them. The fire crackled softly in the background of their grand romance. 

 

They stayed there neither willing to break apart. 

 

“Bunny, I rather think you should go to bed”

 

“Really Raffles! I expect -”

 

“No, no you ninny. You've had a good supper and need to sleep it off”

 

Bunny looked frightened. To have this dangled in front of him and taken would be more than he could bare. 

 

“Will things be the same in the morning, Raffles?”

 

“For the rest of lives if we are lucky, Bunny”

  
  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> I'm Unfathomablespace on tumble, visit an old woman.


End file.
